A Couple of Words.

I was working on a house remodel the other day and noticed the word "plenum" on the central heater instructions. It is the box-like chamber that holds the hot air.  I knew what the plenum was, but for the first time it struck me as odd because technical description words are usually functional and self-explanatory, like screw-driver, or refrigerator. "Plenum" seemed like it may have a history, so I looked it up. Indeed, it is an old Latin word, used to describe a chamber that holds a gas with a positive pressure. Its opposite is "vacuum," as in "horror vacui", or "nature abhors a vacuum." I guess if nature abhors a vacuum, it's fond of a plenum?

Since it is Halloween, I have noticed a lot of candy advertisements, and the word "nougat" caught my attention.  It is a word that strikes me as funny. I looked it up also, knowing that it is the filling in a Mars bar, but not knowing that is usually made of sugar, egg whites and nuts. Nougat has French origins and is related to the word, "nut." Next time you are with friends, and after a few glasses of adult beverages have been consumed, just say the word. Nougat. See what happens.

I keep seeing the phrase, "man up," or its local cousin,"cowboy up." I don't know if this phrase is new, but it is to me. I like the "cowboy up" version. It has a nice local sound, and the "b" in boy and "p" in "up" work nicely together. I take it to mean, "quit your whining and get on with it," a sentiment I embrace for men. Not to put too serious a twist on an otherwise purposeless post, but I think the world could use a little re-appreciation for the traditional male virtues: Courage, Loyalty, Faithfulness. If that is the meaning of the phrase, I am all for it.

For now, anyway.

Thoughts on Shortcuts.

It had been a while since I have had to drive to Dallas in the morning -- and in rush hour traffic. No one likes it. I am glad I no longer do it. But as I was making my way today and the traffic locked up, I decided to take an exit and attempt -- the back road short-cut.

It worked. In minutes I was back to cruising and feeling good. Very good.

My father was the king of shortcuts. He had a shortcut for everything; whether he was washing dishes, cutting the grass, or driving me somewhere, eventually he would devise some way of doing it faster.

Americans, by nature I think, like to find a faster, better way to do whatever it is that needs done. Henry Ford did not invent the internal combustion engine, but he did find an inexpensive way to attach it to an automobile body. Michael Dell didn't invent the personal computer, but he did find the most profitable way to sell them. Google perfected (for now) the ultimate shortcut, the search engine. Faster, better, there is just something about it that we like.

A final comment on shortcuts and cars.

Boasting about shortcut prowess is not advised. The gods of shortcutting will soon cut you down by making the alternate route worse than the main route. I know. Unfortunately, shortcuts work best when one is driving solo, as if these gods kept watch to ensure we enthusiasts don't take too much credit for our success.

That's just the way it is.

Self Check-out Salvation

I dislike lines. Not the necessary lines of life that can not be avoided, like waiting at the airport check-in counter, but the ones where the wait can be avoided. Like the supermarket check-out line.

It seems I am always behind the cell phone lady who decides to look for her debit card after the cashier is finished ringing up the order. Miss "I'm- too-busy-to-get-off-my-cell-phone" then performs the ritual thirty-second purse search, determines that her debit card is lost and decides to write a check, but can't find a pen . . . and on and on, it goes.

While I wait. Just a diet Coke and me. Waiting. And somewhere around her pen-search my head flops against the magazine rack and I ask the Fount of all that is Good what evil I have committed. And I curse. I pray and I curse. While I wait.

Which is why I am so fond of the self-checkout. Human contact be damned, I'll take the vicissitudes of this machine any day. I have heard the arguments against them, loss of personal interaction and frequent breakdowns of the software, but frankly, the impersonal "personal contact" of the check out guy is annoying and the machines are not so unreliable. I actually like checking myself out.

But most importantly, charge, debit, cash or credit, they are faster . . . and quieter, and at the grocery store faster and quieter is better.

Cavalli Pizza. Oh Baby!

If you want to be a good cook begin with fresh ingredients. Even I have had some success by following this rule. But to reach a kind of perfection in the culinary arts is difficult; to accomplish that, one must love something enough to learn how to get it right. And that takes time.

The Cavalli family has had the time and experience, five generations of flour makers in Italy, and it's easy to see they love their pizza. Their cheese and pepperoni pizza is pizza perfection, southern Italian style.

I can say this because my son, a friend and I went to Irving to visit the Cavalli restaurant. My son had business there, I went to try the pizza.

Cavalli's pizza is made with fresh mozzarella, a simple sauce from fresh imported tomatoes, and bread that made me want to cry when I got to the outer crust, it is that good. The pizzas are baked in an 800 degree wood-fired oven and served one pie per person.

I spoke to the owner, Paul Cavalli, and had only one complaint. Cavalli's has one location -- and it is not Fort Worth. He did accept my invitation to consider placing a store here and is open to location suggestions. If you visit the store in Irving, please remind him of DFW's best city for food -- Fort Worth.

This pizza is as good as it gets. They don't need my seal of approval but they have it. I liked it that much. Cavalli's is not tricked up, California style pizza. It is simple pizza made with fresh ingredients. An assortment of sensible Italian style toppings like pepperoni, chicken, garlic, and artichokes are available.

Cavalli's won D Magazine's, Best pizza by the Book, 2008, and is the first restaurant in Texas certified, Verace Pizza Napoletana*.

The Details:
Cavalli's Pizza
3601 Regent Blvd
Irving, Tx 75063
Phone: 972-915-0001
Fax: 972-915-0005
http://www.cavallipizza.com

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Editor's postscript:
Americans may be able to call any flat, circular piece of baked flour "pizza," but Neopolitans don't see it that way. In order to protect the reputation and the quality of their products, local and national Italian organizations create guidelines and offer education in the correct way to prepare these products; olive oil, coffee, wine, and pizza to name just a few. 
Verace Pizza Napoletana offers training to individuals or businesses interested in producing authentic Neapolitan style pizza according to the guidelines of the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association based in Naples, Italy. Verace Pizza Napoletana has a rigorous certification process.  

Cavalli's restaurant is one of the few American restaurants to meet those specifications.

The Chop House

Sometimes when plans fail, things work out better, to wit . . .

My first choice for the wife's birthday dinner was Aventino's. I have been hearing good things and Jake gave it a romantic thumbs up on Twitter, so I thought, perfect . . . well no, not perfect. Aventino's was booked for the night.

Second choice, Ellerbe's. Closed. 

Lili's. Closed. Nonna Tata. Closed.

It's Monday night, the slowest night in the restaurant business and Magnolia street restaurants proved it.

Seeing that my best laid plans were failing fast, my wife suggested the Chop House downtown, which had been a favorite of ours, so Chop House it was, and as it turned out, an excellent choice.

Our favorite special night entree is Beef Oscar, a filet topped with crab and a Bearnaise Sauce, and usually served with asparagus. We both ordered the Chop House version of this favorite. The steaks were cooked perfectly, hot all the way through, and the Bearnaise Sauce was smooth and tasty. The crab was a little hard to find but I don't take any points off there. The asparagus was crisp.

The appetizer was the beef kabobs. Very good.

We both chose the Chop House Salad which was not cold enough and very wimpy. The sauce was supposed to be a Roquefort but it tasted more like Ranch. The blue cheese was hard to find and the bacon was uniformly grease encased. I have had better salads at Denny's. Every restaurant should be able to do the following: serve lettuce cold in a cold dish, never mix the dressing into the salad until it is ready to be served. And if you call anything Roquefort make sure its good.

The side was a scalloped potato dish which we split and it was delicious.

Dessert: Bread pudding with ice cream and fruit. Not the best bread pudding I have ever had, but it was good.

Conclusion: Chop House is still a good restaurant with a good steak, a comfortable setting, good service -- and it is downtown, which is always a plus.
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Final only slightly related note: I am old enough to remember when most fine dining restaurants required appropriate attire. I do not blame any restaurant for moving with the times and not requiring a coat and tie for men, but I do wish that at least one restaurant in Fort Worth would have a more formal dress requirement. Am I alone in this? Out-of-touch, or on to something?